The mountains are pretty, and with the like below glistering in the late day sun. And the "village" is tastefully build. It blend in with the landscape nicely. It's really cool at the end of the day you ski right past the front door of the shops and condos.

There're lots of trails. Good bit of variety, which unfortunately today was all the same. Hard as rock. Just a difference of smooth rocks vs textured rocks. Occasionally though, if one was lucky, one hit upon one of the trails that was groomed only 1/2 hr earlier and just opened. I hit a couple of them and went right back up for a 2nd helping. But by the time I went back up for a 3rd time, it was half scraped down to the rock hard again. Still, I had some good runs. The best condition were around the TGV lift.

I kept wanting to stop to take pictures. But the cold wind, though not very strong, felt like an ice-knife threatening to cut right through my clothing and skin right to my core. Just the mere thought of taking off my glove to get at my phone, was enough to sent chills down my spine. So sadly, no pictures. Very sad indeed. For the view was definitely quite photogenic.

Mountain runs a little differently than down in the states. Some good, some not so good.

Morning: First thing, there're NO greeters! Not at the bus/car drop off, not at the gondola base either. People milling about going every which way. But which was is the locker? Also for a first timer, I couldn't tell which of the 40 trails that weren't open were, or which chair to avoid.

In fact, that sparse staffing extends to lift op. You don't even see lifties! There're ticket scanners though. But they're way back in the line, not helping organize the line. So filling the chair is done by... nobody! That proved to be challenging when people don't always speak the same language! How do you say "how many in your group" in French???

But there're signs. Tremblant LOVES signs.

Quad, double, single were on BIG signs clearly visible from afar. So singles don't have to waddle through the masses of people standing at the maze entrance waiting for their group. Just pick a clear path to the singles line.

Afternoon: Because there're several different bases, it's a concern one end up in the wrong base when the lift stops spinning. So at 3, swam of people in jackets with a giant "?" mark suddenly appeared out of nowhere! They're there to make sure people ONLY go down to where their car is! Boy, I could have used them "question mark" people earlier.

And on the bottom, they push a HUGE sign at every lift: "LAST CHAIR UP!". So you "should" know by that sign, your next run down must be to where you're parked. I don't know how well it actually works. But if you managed to miss BOTH of those helpful signs, you really can't blame anyone but yourself if you end up on the wrong base.

Strangely, it's some of the green trails that resembles skating ring tilted on its end. While not overly fearful of losing control on the skating ring myself, I was more concerned about those barely in control "unguided human missile" flying by at speed clearly unhealthy!

So, this being my first impression. The mountain is lovely, but my timing isn't the best as condition was far from ideal. I'm here for 3 more days. Hopefully condition will improve...
]]>Northeast Skiing and Snowboarding Trip Reportsabchttp://forums.alpinezone.com/showthread.php/140294-Tremblant-First-impression-2-16-2018Stowe 2/15/18http://forums.alpinezone.com/showthread.php/140289-Stowe-2-15-18?goto=newpost
Thu, 15 Feb 2018 21:45:36 GMTGot there nice and early but wasn't very excited due to hearing how things froze up again big time over night.

Stowe did have a bunch of groomed terrain, which was what I was counting on. Very small crowd there, relatively speaking. I had every lift to myself except one time I rode the Gondola with the Queen of England and Her Royal Company, 70 years old and decked out in fur hats and sunglasses. By the way, it was extremely cloudy.

I did have some great cruising runs, almost untouched, on all 3 areas of the mountain. Stuff off the top of Spruce was almost untouched at noon.

My legs were burning from yesterday, by 12:30 I was pretty shot and it had also started raining, and the snow was firming up again making each run quickly less enjoyable.

Did get some woods in but mostly lower angle ones lower on the mountain, it was pretty crusty and only borderline fun.

I will say, their service is top notch. Lifts are fast. They groomed the heck out of a large portion of their terrain and it was very skiable (and fast, with long vert). The toilets were sparkling clean. I was addressed as "Sir" repeatedly, not that I prefer that.

That all said, I do not like Stowe, do not like going to Stowe, and would rather be over the hill at Smuggler's or down the road at Bolton or across the highway at Mad River Glen. I do not want an RFID card to go skiing. I do not want to stand in line for my lift ticket with 5 dudes in their 40's who just railed cocaine together and acting like braggadocious fools.

What did concern me is hearing the lift ticket lady say she thinks Vail is going to buy Jay Peak; but I guess Jay Peak is quickly becoming a weekdays-only destination anyway.

Trip Report: Snow was actually in solid shape everywhere. Base depths weren't huge but there wasn't much poking out on the trails as of 2pm Sunday. Glades weren't deep, but many were skiable without worrying about your bases too much.

Hudson Chair went down mid-morning on Saturday, which was a disappointment and wasted a good hour of my day with a shuttle back to the main face.

Sunday started off pretty decent, but the rain and fog was getting worse and I eventually called it quits. Still, got some nice runs in, a particular highlight of the day was some great snow on Chatiemac and Open Pit.
]]>Northeast Skiing and Snowboarding Trip Reportsmillerm277http://forums.alpinezone.com/showthread.php/140285-Gore-Mountain-2-10-2-11Camelback 2/9http://forums.alpinezone.com/showthread.php/140283-Camelback-2-9?goto=newpost
Wed, 14 Feb 2018 20:57:14 GMTIt's under 1 hour away, standard day trip spot. Conditions firm and fast, not ice. Empty trails. Asp is favorite run, was great. Nile mile was not full of beginners, was able to enjoy cruzing it. Light to moderate snow started falling around 1130, great athomishere. Glad to get there before the weekend rain hit.
]]>Northeast Skiing and Snowboarding Trip ReportsJohn9http://forums.alpinezone.com/showthread.php/140283-Camelback-2-9Mad River Glen - 2/14/2018http://forums.alpinezone.com/showthread.php/140282-Mad-River-Glen-2-14-2018?goto=newpost
Wed, 14 Feb 2018 20:18:19 GMTDay 1 of a 2 day solo adventure. Family is in PA for the week. Unfortunately conditions did not pan out for me to take the epic powder chasing...Day 1 of a 2 day solo adventure. Family is in PA for the week. Unfortunately conditions did not pan out for me to take the epic powder chasing journey I had hoped for.

But MRG had $14 Valentine's Day tickets, I bought a few days ago in advance, figuring maybe things will soften up and corn up by then.

Well, they didn't, but it was a really fun day. Run of the day was Antelope / Catamount off the top. Whatever they had groomed skied really nicely. Most moguls were either closed or bulletproof. Later in the day they softened up a little as the temps rose so I did get some bump skiing in. Kind of technical but I enjoyed it. Makes you a better skier type of stuff.

Sun never really peaked out today -- although as I'm sitting up here in Stowe the sun is out here and it's warming up.

I brought clothes and overnight supplies not knowing if I'd stay up here for Day 2, and not knowing where, but Stowe is bragging about their awesome grooming on the website enough I figure I'll take them up for it. Hoping things soften up enough to get some less conventional terrain in play. Might corn up a bit tonight for tomorrow, we'll see. Good way to get some value out of my Ski VT passes at least.

Also MRG was totally empty when I arrived, must have been the 10th car in the lot. Almost as many Ski Patrol as regular skiers there today. People were having fun though, as much as some of the staff looked a little depressed.

Don't get a chance to get up there very often, last two times were on "bad" ski days (this year ice, last year total melt down). Always have a good time and the skiing is technical no matter what.

Their natural base is decent -- one big storm or a couple medium ones and it should be "good" again.

]]>Northeast Skiing and Snowboarding Trip Reportsbdfreetunahttp://forums.alpinezone.com/showthread.php/140282-Mad-River-Glen-2-14-2018Tremblant 2/13/18http://forums.alpinezone.com/showthread.php/140280-Tremblant-2-13-18?goto=newpost
Wed, 14 Feb 2018 03:22:14 GMTWhat a difference a day makes! Still firm and fast, but most of the glare was covered up by extensive grooming last night. Bluebird with temps...What a difference a day makes! Still firm and fast, but most of the glare was covered up by extensive grooming last night. Bluebird with temps topping out in the high teens. Best snow on the mountain were the groomers off the edge chair. Bumps and woods off edge chair look to have great coverage, but are still too firm for my taste. Most of north side that was groomed was good. I thought soleil chair was really good today as well. Another night of grooming should make tomorrow even better, but with high temps in the low 30s and mostly cloudy I don't see anything softening up tomorrow. Chance of light snow/mix on Thurs with temps in the mid 30s. Bring your carving skis and thank the groomers!

Looking forward to two more days of vacation. I am growing to really like this mountain. I can't imagine fighting the crowds on a weekend or holiday, but my two midweek trips here in the past two years (early February) have offered moderate crowds, fast lifts, long interesting cruisers, solid snow conditions, some quality steeps and super convenient slopeside lodging that is half the cost what New England resorts offer. It's worth the eight hour drive (mostly highway) from MA as long as the exchange rate is favorable. It's really hard for me to compare Tremblant's terrain to another New England ski area. Curious on thoughts from others....A combo of Stowe and Stratton, with the northside feeling a bit like sugarbush/mt. Ellen?? Honestly, some of the trails feel more like Park City than a New England area.
]]>Northeast Skiing and Snowboarding Trip Reportsskifastinvthttp://forums.alpinezone.com/showthread.php/140280-Tremblant-2-13-18Stratton 2-12-2018: C is for Cookiehttp://forums.alpinezone.com/showthread.php/140277-Stratton-2-12-2018-C-is-for-Cookie?goto=newpost
Tue, 13 Feb 2018 13:38:23 GMTWe had the day off so we headed up.
The good:
Ample sunshine
No lift lines (Gondi was practically walk on all day)
Comfortable temps
...We had the day off so we headed up.

The good:
Ample sunshine
No lift lines (Gondi was practically walk on all day)
Comfortable temps

Conditions were rough. Think of that first chair run you take in the spring; it was warm the day before and setup over night. Every run was like that. Due to the rain Sunday, they couldn't groom until really early in the morning Monday. Many trails were pretty firm, but you could edge. Others just had cookies all over place. West Meadow was tough. I felt bad for a few of the families I saw attempting to get down. Steeple Chase was firm, but fast. Not bad. That's really all that was open at Sun Bowl. They had two groomers on that side of the mountain out mid day. Going up the main face, anything that wasn't groomed looked shiny.

Run of the day was Black Bear to Mulligan's. :lol:

Not the best day, but we made the most of it.
]]>Northeast Skiing and Snowboarding Trip ReportsGlennhttp://forums.alpinezone.com/showthread.php/140277-Stratton-2-12-2018-C-is-for-CookieHolimont 2/9http://forums.alpinezone.com/showthread.php/140271-Holimont-2-9?goto=newpost
Mon, 12 Feb 2018 15:15:32 GMTHolimont has heated sidewalks and a HSQ at the base lodge.
Attachment 23197 (http://forums.alpinezone.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=23197)
...Holimont has heated sidewalks and a HSQ at the base lodge.

Normally I drive by Greek to visit my son at Cornell. It doesn't look like much from the road. Maybe 900' vertical. But Greek is actually pretty spread out and there is a lot of good terrain there to explore. Cornhead acted as my guide and we skied pretty much every lift on the hill. We skied a variety of groomed terrain and natural snow trails and glades. 100% open yesterday.

I was impressed with the trees there mostly because there were a lot of trees to ski and several were challenging and pretty long. In addition, there were many steep pitches which skied great with the natural snowfall the past week. Early on the snow was still fluffy but it got wetter and thicker as the day progressed, still surfable though. Except for a short burst of light rain we were spared any wetness.

I had a great day. Enjoyed the lunch we had in the lodge. Met and skied with some interesting characters during a day well spent. At 2:45 each way not a bad drive either. I will be back.
]]>Northeast Skiing and Snowboarding Trip ReportsJimG.http://forums.alpinezone.com/showthread.php/140264-Greek-Peak-2-10-18Ragged Mt. Danbury, NHhttp://forums.alpinezone.com/showthread.php/140262-Ragged-Mt-Danbury-NH?goto=newpost
Sun, 11 Feb 2018 20:55:40 GMTSkied Ragged Mountain (RM) last year and loved the easy in and out, diverse terrain and low key vibe. I prefer smaller mountains. A few favs for a...Skied Ragged Mountain (RM) last year and loved the easy in and out, diverse terrain and low key vibe. I prefer smaller mountains. A few favs for a frame of reference include Wildcat and Crotched. My all time fav big mountain is Sunday River. This is my 5th year boarding. I used to be a die hard windsurfer and years ago, a skier. My boarding companion is bf, an expert in both skiing and boarding. We usually do park and trails and up until yesterday, he'd go into the woods alone. More on my first day of tree boarding.

We scored 47.00 tickets in Oct. off the SkiNH website. We left New Bedford 5:15, stopped for a rest room visit and arrived before 8, following one of MANY large charter buses. It was Ski East so the place was packed with kids and parents. First tracks off the 6 pack lift (fast and easy despite being seated with 5 other humans). Every trail we hit on Ragged Peak was awesome. In the 5 years I have been riding (10-15 days per season), this was the best. The packed powder was glorious. Off to the side, some untouched billowing snow. could be found By 10, the 6 pack lines were getting long so we headed to the quad and boarded off Spear Peak until 1 PM. All the trails were amazing aside from Flying Yankee which has some icy patches. Off Cardigan, we headed into the woods at Devil's Den and Tree Hugger. It was a BLAST. I loved boarding in the trees. It takes a lot of concentration and you can't be a baby about your gear going off roots and sometimes, rocks. I face planted twice and came up laughing. We ended the day back on Ragged Peak. My fav run of the aft was Birches, a black.

We went through the single lines all day to save time. We avoided the lodge and ate on our car with our own food. The weather was spectacular; some sun, no wind, no rain. I cruised down the slopes often with my jacket on my waist and no gloves, at times.

We will be back next year.
]]>Northeast Skiing and Snowboarding Trip Reportscaribchakitahttp://forums.alpinezone.com/showthread.php/140262-Ragged-Mt-Danbury-NHWoods Valley 2/7http://forums.alpinezone.com/showthread.php/140259-Woods-Valley-2-7?goto=newpost
Sun, 11 Feb 2018 12:18:10 GMTWednesday brought about 12 inches of fresh new snow to Woods Valley. The lake effect snow was very light and dry on top of a nice firm base. It was...Wednesday brought about 12 inches of fresh new snow to Woods Valley. The lake effect snow was very light and dry on top of a nice firm base. It was a beautiful night under the lights. There were not a of folks there, and fresh tracks were easy to find all the way to last chair.

]]>Northeast Skiing and Snowboarding Trip ReportsBosco DaSkiahttp://forums.alpinezone.com/showthread.php/140259-Woods-Valley-2-7Belleayre 2-10-18http://forums.alpinezone.com/showthread.php/140258-Belleayre-2-10-18?goto=newpost
Sun, 11 Feb 2018 04:07:56 GMTWoke up this morning not sure I was going to go today- the weather reports all were predicting intermittent showers. Maybe it was a strong cup of...Woke up this morning not sure I was going to go today- the weather reports all were predicting intermittent showers. Maybe it was a strong cup of caffeine that pushed me out the door, but as you’ll see below, I’m very glad I went. I arrived around 10:45 to an extremely crowded parking situation at the upper mountain & was lucky to find a space. Turns out, there was a huge racing event that shut down Dot Nebel the entire day. The joint was jumpin’. Realizing that it had snowed earlier in the morning, as well as yesterday, providing several inches of freshies, I decided to focus on the trails that rely on natural snow. Cathedral Brook was in very nice shape, with only a few places you had to be careful. There was still some untracked snow- it was soft but heavy with a creme brulee topping that crunched against the top of my boots:FullSizeRender(44).jpg
Winisook Glade still had spots of untracked snow- I was surprised how good it was:FullSizeRender(45).jpgBelleayre Glade, however, was much more trafficked with lots of little surprises here and there- I didn’t like what I encountered and got out. Utsayantha finally opened- this is the upper portion around noon (its steep section later got scraped off):FullSizeRender(43).jpgEsopus was in excellent shape:FullSizeRender(46).jpg
Onteora was really bumped up with excellent coverage:FullSizeRender(42).jpgSpeaking of bumps, there were plenty in all the usual places, including upper Yahoo, which also appears to be relying more on natural snow. Temps hovered around 40 so the snow was soft enough to set a good edge into. The X-Course on Ashokan just below Roaring Brook is up and running, and Area 15 below the Overlook Lodge is complete- they added a bunch of large, closely spaced rollers. There were minimal to no lift lines at the gondi, Lift 7, and Tomahawk, though the lines at Superchief reached about 5-6 minutes. Superchief broke down just as I was about to get on it for my last run of the day- I hiked out of there and went down to the gondi just in the nick of time. Later, as I gathered my things to leave Overlook Lodge, it still wasn't working, with plenty of unhappy folks captive on it. I hope they got out ok- “there but for the grace of God” almost went me. The rain held off for the entire day but alas is predicted for tonight and tomorrow, which will be a setback for those nice natural snow trails above.

]]>Northeast Skiing and Snowboarding Trip Reportslegalskierhttp://forums.alpinezone.com/showthread.php/140258-Belleayre-2-10-18Stratton 2/9/18http://forums.alpinezone.com/showthread.php/140252-Stratton-2-9-18?goto=newpost
Sat, 10 Feb 2018 01:29:07 GMTWOW What a beautiful day! Snow was amazing! I skied 9:00-3:45 no breaks. I was on a tree skiing crusade. I've seen better conditions a couple times this year but not with this much base. It's deep out there, folks. It was crazy how much tree skiing I did today with minimal obstacles. I'm so used to tree skiing being about picking your way down- around this rock, avoid that stump, watch out for the ice. Today it was mostly point em' down and ski.

I don't ski Stratton much. I haven't been in the woods there in years but I remembered how good they were with a lot of snow. They did not disappoint. My favorite runs were off in the Kidderbrook area. Tough to lap but very worth it. Very little traffic over there compared to the trees off of the Ursa lift. My favorite run was doing the top 1/2 of Test Pilot- which isn't very steep but it's just narrow chutes cut into a grove of pine trees. Then I'd cut over to Vertigo which is the total opposite- a very very wide open glade that had seen very little traffic since the storm. My honorable mention glade goes to Kidderbrook Ravine which had a lot of different fall lines to experiment with.

I wish I had done more bumps today. Upper Liftline and Beardown were superb but I just couldn't pull myself out of the woods.

Liftlines were minimal. I waited 3 minutes in the gondola at 9:45am before bailing to the upper mountain lifts. Ursa was a couple chair wait in the singles line til noon when things cleared out.

All-in-all an awesome day of skiing.
]]>Northeast Skiing and Snowboarding Trip Reportsss20http://forums.alpinezone.com/showthread.php/140252-Stratton-2-9-18Bretton Woods - 2/9/18http://forums.alpinezone.com/showthread.php/140251-Bretton-Woods-2-9-18?goto=newpost
Sat, 10 Feb 2018 00:54:36 GMTGood conditions at Bretton today, especially in the glades. They didn't get any rain in the last storm, so I didn't run into any ice, and the 9" of fresh snow from yesterday has set things up nicely. They are 100% open, so I was hitting a lot of stuff I haven't had a chance to in the past. I didn't even know they had a T-bar, so did some glades off that for the first time. Pretty much hit every area on the mountain and coverage was great. The groomers were good for carving, and there were a lot of ungroomed side areas and trails with leftovers from the storm.

Only thing missing was a good bump run. Aggassiz has some bumps, but they aren't well developed yet. There are also some bumps under a few of the lifts. My favorite trail today was the Zephyr Glade West. The trail gets very little traffic so the snow was still fresh, and it's so wide I could take a different line down each time. Also enjoyed the little pod off the Rosebrook quad, but those trails are unfortunately quite short since BW is of course challenged in the area of steeps.

Overall had a fun day and it was a bargain since they had a sale on weekday tickets for $49. Temps were chilly in the morning and near the end of the day, but I was working hard in the trees so was often sweaty. Since there was no wind, I never felt cold. Lifts were ski on all day, except a short wait on the Bethlehem, but I rarely used that one. Legs were really running on empty by the time the lifts closed, but I didn't want to stop.
]]>Northeast Skiing and Snowboarding Trip Reportsspedenhttp://forums.alpinezone.com/showthread.php/140251-Bretton-Woods-2-9-18Mount Snow - 2/9/2018http://forums.alpinezone.com/showthread.php/140250-Mount-Snow-2-9-2018?goto=newpost
Fri, 09 Feb 2018 23:49:02 GMT*Date: *2/9/2018
*
Resort: *Mount Snow
*Conditions: *Packed Powder, Light Snow
*Report: *Nothing better than a mental health day to spend...Date: 2/9/2018
Resort: Mount Snow

Conditions: Packed Powder, Light SnowReport: Nothing better than a mental health day to spend out at Snow. The mountain was in fine order, arrived at 9:00, and it was already packed. Skied the following - Cascade, Drifter, Ledge, Canyon, Ego Alley, Ridge, Uncles, South Bowl, Cloud 9 and Fallen Timbers. It was a short trip 9-1pm, but worth it.. Had to hustle back home, but before the warm up I wanted to get some turns in. no pictures... Favorite Run had to be either Uncles or Ledge... Was so good!
]]>Northeast Skiing and Snowboarding Trip ReportsBostonianhttp://forums.alpinezone.com/showthread.php/140250-Mount-Snow-2-9-2018